A conventional transfer press is provided with a press body into which a plurality of working stations are arranged, in which workpieces are subsequently transferred from an upstream side of the working stations towards a downstream side thereof during which the workpieces are worked at the respective working stations.
Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. HEI 8-52597 discloses a transfer press in which a bed, a crown, a slide and the like, which constitute a press body, are divided into sections for the respective working stations, and these divided ones are fabricated into a module as one set of press unit for each of the working stations.
The conventional transfer press of the structure, for example, mentioned in the above publication is assembled at an installation site after preliminarily manufacturing the respective bed sections, crown sections and slide sections in the divided states in a manufacturing factory and conveying them to the installation site, so that it is advantageous that these divided sections can be conveyed with no specific limit in the conveyance even if a large-sized transfer press is installed.
However, in the conventional transfer press disclosed in the above publication, since it is fabricated into a module in each of the working stations, it is necessary to provide uprights for supporting the crown section in each of the working stations. For this reason, when a width of the upright is made large for ensuring the strength thereof, it is obliged to make large a pitch between adjacent two working stations because of the following reason.
That is, the conventional transfer press is provided with a moving bolster, capable of being freely inserted into or drawn out of the press body, for easy exchanging of a mold, and in the transfer press which is fabricated into a module in each of the working stations, such moving bolsters are provided for the respective working stations. Such moving bolsters are passed through a space between adjacent uprights when the moving bolsters are inserted into or drawn out of the press body.
Because of the reason mentioned above, it is necessary to keep the space between the respective uprights sufficient for the moving bolsters to be inserted or drawn out, and accordingly, if the uprights each having a large width are used, the pitch between the adjacent working stations provided with the moving bolsters is inevitably made large. However, in the case where the pitches between the respective working stations are made large, all processes in the working stations are also elongated and the entire length of the press body will be also made large, resulting in a provision of a large-sized press body which requires much manufacturing cost, thus being inconvenient and disadvantageous.
In order to obviate such defect, in the conventional transfer press, which is fabricated into a module at the respective working stations, it is attempted to reduce the pitch between the adjacent working stations and, hence, to make short the entire length of the press body.
In the conventional transfer press, however, if the width of the upright is made small, the rigidity of the press body in the horizontal direction is accordingly reduced, which may cause a swing in the horizontal direction during the working and it is difficult to expect a precise press molding of the transfer press.
The present invention was conceived to solve or improve the problems or defects of the conventional transfer press mentioned above and to provide a transfer press capable of improving the rigidity in the horizontal direction thereof and performing a press molding with a high precision.